Do CB merchants still send out review copies?

Its going to depend on the merchant. But its also going to depend on the email you send. If it looks like a generic email it will almost certainly get dumped.

Any merchant is going to want to know what is in it for them, if the email looks like someone trying to scam a freebie or they even suspect thats what it is (even if it isn't) then they're not going to be interested.

Take your time over reading their pitch, write personalised email that shows you've taken the time to look it over. Tell them about how you intend to promote it (which answers the "whats in it for me" thing), show them your site, prove how your promotion gets results, etc.

In other words - sell yourself and your ability.

Andy

Fashionable topic, at the moment - it has "caught the zeitgeist".

This occasionally happens to me, also. I like it, because I learn what I needed to know from it. If the vendor won't even reply to a professional email from a potential business associate, I can readily imagine what his after-sales service is going to be like, if needed by my customers, so I drop the idea quickly!

Here's what I do, anyway, if it helps ...

I just send them an email (if there's no contact address showing on their sales page, try "admin", "info" and "support" at theirdomain.com - one or more copies will normally reach them), explaining all the following:-

(i) Who I am and what I've done before (giving links so they can verify);

(ii) What my potential interest is in their product, why I'm able to promote a product in their niche and why I think from their sales page that theirs might exactly fit the bill for my (potential) customers;

(iii) How I'd propose to market their product ... I'm really specific: I don't just say "by article marketing" or "by PPC marketing" - anyone can say that - I mention my existing lists, my experience, the marketing techniques I've previously found valuable in the niche (if applicable) and so on: I mention three or four approaches, the last one of which is designed to come across as a bit "unusual and different" and "get them thinking";

(iv) The research I've done in the niche (i.e. making sure they know that I've done some!);

(v) The domain-names I already own in the niche;

(vi) A specific question I have about the product which is designed to draw an answer and at the same time demonstrate that I know what I'm talking about (not just "what the conversion rate is?" because I want to demonstrate that I'm aware that their average conversion rate will have absolutely nothing to do with the conversion rate for my traffic anyway, so that's a really bad question to ask in the first instance).

The more you present yourself as someone to be taken seriously, the more likely they are to take you seriously.

My overall aim is to leave them feeling "Wow, I certainly don't want to let this affiliate pick someone else's product instead of mine".

(I confess, if I were a vendor, deciding to whom to give free review copies, rightly or wrongly I'd be asking myself "If they can't sell themselves enough to me, as a prospective business associate, for me even to take them seriously, how good are they likely to be at selling my product?").